Report Summary: Research has clearly indicated that antibiotics will control certain major plant diseases and, in some cases, eradicate infection of treated plants. These complex organic chemicals, which inhibit or destroy the growth of disease-causing organisms, have made phenomenal contributions to the fields of human medicine and animal nutrition. Now pathologists have successfully directed the action of antibiotics against certain plant diseases. The success of antibiotics in this field is credited to their ability to enter into the plant where they protect against invasion of the disease-causing organism and stop the growth of organisms already in the plant, rather than serving simply as a surface protectant. Commercial formulations of some antibiotics are available to vegetable growers, but they have not come into wide use. This report discusses these antibiotics, recently developed ones which show promise, and the specific diseases which each has controlled.
